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Took the girls to a Winter Festival tonight. With temps in the low 60s, it wasn’t feeling exactly wintery, but nonetheless we strolled around seeing what was to be seen. It was busy – crowded even – and offered some activities in the way of bouncy houses, cook your own s’mores, etc. It seems nearly all the activities were free, and so as you might expect there were lengthy lines (and waits) for pretty much everything. The girls were pretty easily dissuaded as we passed by the bouncy house and other things – they also didn’t want to wait in line. We made a circuit through the grounds and before deciding our next action, Mallory decided she wanted to go check out ‘one more thing.’ It’s an inflatable bouncy course, with obstacles, crawling, climbing up stairs/ladder and then a steep and tall slide down. Immediately the girls decide they want to do it. They’ll wait in line for this one. So, we get in line. Already I’m thinking, what if they get scared, what if they want to back out, what if… It’s pretty much a closed course so once you go in, you have to finish. As we wait, we talk all these things through with the girls, making sure they understand what they’re getting in to. I’m still a little anxious for them. Especially Mallory, who can have some moments of timidness. I can just imagine her getting to the top of the stairs/slide and deciding it wasn’t for her. But I know my job as a parent is to not allow my anxiety to transfer to them. So we go forth. We see the sign that says you must be 36 inches to ‘ride.’ We figure we’ll just generously round up for Hannah. We get closer, start taking off shoes. And then, they’re in. Adrienne circles around the outside just in case help is needed, while I get ready at the bottom of the slide to take a photo. It’s dark and so I spend some time figuring out how to get the best capture. I’m still mucking with the iPhone when Mallory pops up at the top and without hesitation slides down. Hannah is soon behind her. Here I’m figuring I’ve got time, since they’ve gotta get around the obstacles, etc. But they were so quick I didn’t even get the shot! Of course they had a blast, and we’re back in line to do it again.

(That white blob is Santa. Nearly took out some bystanders with the candy he was throwing.)

And so staring at me under the streetlights at a 60-degree winter festival, was a reminder to let go, to let joy happen.

These kids are the best teachers.

Mal’s birthday was a rather understated affair. In the morning we got some fancy balloons courtesy of Nana and Bapa. Then we drove out to the New Hope, PA children’s museum. Spent a couple hours having fun playing doctor and other things (we’d been there once before), then had a decent lunch at a nearby brewpub. After a scenic drive home along the Delaware river (trying to give kids a chance to nap, though it didn’t work), we got to the important work at hand: frosting the homemade cake and letting the homemade chocolate ice cream soften up a bit. Oh, and presents. Mal loved everything and had a great time. She says it was her best birthday ever. And I suppose that’s true for her. For her parents, maybe it was just a nice reminder of the best birthday ever, 4 years prior, and all the richness we’ve shared since. And the cake and ice cream? Pretty darn good.

Adrienne had to work in the City today, so I had the pleasure of staying home with the girls. It was a great day: zoo in the morning, an ok lunch, Hannah napped well and Mal had fun playing by herself during quiet time. We painted and then went to the playground, where Mal really wanted to show me how she could climb the ‘spider web’. She does a great job, and Hannah’s no slouch either! Then we come home and I start making dinner. They both ask for some granola to tide them over, so I give them a small bit each with milk. I’m in the kitchen making pasta with shrimp and mushrooms (and a butter/Parmesan sauce). Mal loves shrimp, so I figure it should be a good dinner, even if Adrienne isn’t home yet – which I figure she’s running late. No problem. The girls start making some spitting noises and laughing – they are known to do this – so I remind them not to and go on with my prep. They continue making the noises but I don’t think much of it. A minute or two later I go back to the dining room, and there’s Mal, drinking milk out of Hannah’s bottle, then spitting it out – on to the floor and table. After which Hannah takes a cloth and wipes the table. Needless to say, both went to bed immediately with no dinner, about 6:45pm vs. their normal 8pm bedtime. Adrienne still wasn’t home, so I got a dinner alone by myself. Some would be ecstatic about this, but it really made me sad – a bad end to a great day. And I really like eating with and just generally spending time with the girls. Probably because I don’t get to, in the grand scheme of things. And then comes the hard part – sticking to your guns. Hannah screaming from her crib after she’d thrown her pillow and blanket and babydoll out. Mal coming down the stairs and saying she’s hungry. That’s the hard part. The good part is I know I’ll remember the spider web climbing and the carousel ride at the zoo, but the dinner alone will quickly fade.

Mal wearing momma’s shades:

Mal’s first double braid. Done by Dad, no less!

The artist…

Sisters.

Sharing.

Working out.

First s’more.

Big girl washing up.

I’ll keep the commentary to a minimum. The mess was at a maximum!

After opening some presents, we took a breakfast break. Mallory of course insisted that her new baby doll sit beside her at breakfast. Sorry for the crappy photo!

Then back to the fun!

For Christmas dinner, we continued our (tradition?… I think this is the second year in a row…) of eating at our favorite Chinese restaurant. As should be expected, the place was packed (eating Chinese on Christmas is a big Jewish thing, if you didn’t know – I certainly didn’t before I moved out East!). We arrived a bit late (5:30pm), and thus had to wait a while for a table. We were finally seated and waited a very long time just to get menus and water – which only came after we asked for them. The tea kettle was put on our table, but no cups. It looked like there were a total of 4 wait staff working the entire room of maybe 200+ people – they were severely understaffed! We ordered and eventually got some food, but after waiting a while one dish never showed. It was already 7:30pm – past Hannah’s bedtime and quickly approaching Mal’s. We finally gave up, I went to the front door guy and settled the bill – learning our last dish was not on the order, so we would have never gotten it – then walked back into the kitchen to obtain some carryout boxes to pack up food, and left. This all sounds like a great disappointment, and it was pretty frustrating for Adrienne and me, but I have to say there’s a great bright spot: both of the girls were awesome! Very well behaved, and that made this parent very happy. Plus we have leftover Moo Shu Duck.

After a 12-hour work day and than a 16-hour work day, I took a day off and we finally got out to get a Christmas tree. We decided to try a different place than the last few years, as I’ve never been fully happy with the experience and product at the place we’d been going. So we headed south, and on the way to Manalapan we stopped at the Bridgewater Diner for lunch. Mal loves “smiling” for the camera. And Hannah is always goofy and happy. A nice way to spend the day. Too bad it’s back to work tomorrow!

So this goes to show you how behind I am in getting photos into the library. (And digital was supposed to make is so easy, right?!) So here is a set of photos that Adrienne took in the beginning of August. But I thought you’d enjoy them, so here they are. More to come as I do more sorting!

Some of you may have heard me refer to #2 kid as Hannah Houdini. There’s good reason: she’s proven very adept at breaking out of sleep swaddles. While impressive, it does create a problem when she manages to get herself free at 3am, because she is sure to announce her accomplishment. Some time ago we thought we’d developed a fool-proof method: a two swaddle, miracle blanket then overlay normal swaddle technique. She got wise to us, so we went back to the drawing board and I think we’ve now hit on a superior method. The key, we’ve learned, is not only to be wrapped as tight as possible but also to have full arm AND hand coverage. And so I present the unwrapping of the super swaddle (TM) V2 (patent pending) technique:

Has it been six years already?

Today we visited the Goldendale Community Pool and Mal went for a swim.